Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Emerging-market stocks completed a
second weekly advance this year and a gauge of Chinese companies
hit a 17-month high as the nation’s economic growth accelerated.
Rising metal prices boosted equities in Russia and South Africa.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. climbed the most in
two weeks in Taipei after forecasting sales that beat analyst
estimates, leading technology companies higher. Bharat Petroleum
Corp. rallied to a record in Mumbai, while Indian Oil Corp., the
nation’s biggest state refiner, jumped the most in two years as
the government allowed oil companies to raise diesel prices.
Shares in Russia climbed to a nine-month peak as OAO Sberbank
rallied. Banco do Brasil SA drove the Bovespa Index lower.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.7 percent last week
to 1,080.74 in New York, the highest since Jan. 3. China’s
economic growth accelerated for the first time in two years as
government efforts to revive demand spurred a rebound in
industrial output, retail sales and the housing market, data
from Beijing showed today.

“We’ve seen a big surge across most risk markets,” said
Mohammed Nalla, head of strategic research at Nedbank Group Ltd.
in Johannesburg. “If we see a bottoming and a bit of a rebound
come through from China, then that would bode well for commodity
prices; that’s been construed as quite a positive
internationally.”

China’s gross domestic product rose 7.9 percent in the
fourth quarter from a year earlier, the National Bureau of
Statistics said in Beijing today. That compared with the 7.8
percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey and 7.4
percent in the previous period. December industrial output and
fixed-asset investment for the year also increased.

U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly declined in January.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment
index decreased to 71.3 percent in January from 72.9 the prior
month. The gauge was projected to climb to 75, according to the
median forecast of 74 economists surveyed by Bloomberg news.

The 21 nations in MSCI’s developing-nations gauge send
about 17 percent of their exports to the U.S. and 26 percent to
the European Union on average, data compiled by the World Trade
Organization show.

“The Michigan number was lower than expected, but the
Chinese numbers helped and are pretty firm overall,” Aryam
Vazquez, an economist at Wells Fargo & Co. in New York, said by
phone today. “The underlying scope for a pullback remains in
play as a result of the debt ceiling debates here in the U.S.
and a structurally weak recovery across the mature economies.”

Brazil, India

House Republicans plan to vote next week on a three-month
extension of U.S. borrowing authority in an effort to force the
Democratic-led Senate to adopt a budget plan. U.S. markets will
be closed on Jan. 21 in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr.
holiday.

Brazil’s Bovespa dropped 0.4 percent, trimming its weekly
advance to 0.8 percent. Banco do Brasil fell 2.3 percent after
saying it may increase its stake in Banco Votorantim SA, which
reported five straight quarterly losses through September 2012.

The BSE India Sensitive Index, or Sensex, added 0.4 percent
to the highest close since Jan. 6, 2011. Taiwan’s Taiex Index
gained 1.5 percent, the most since Nov. 23. Benchmark gauges in
the Philippines and Indonesia closed at record highs.

Russia’s Micex Index rose to its highest level since April
as Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender, jumped 2.2 percent to the
highest close since July 2011. OAO Magnit, the country’s biggest
food retailer by market value, advanced 2.8 percent to a record
close.

South Africa’s main stocks gauge increased for a second day
as the FTSE/JSE Africa Mining Index jumped 1 percent, snapping
five days of losses. African Rainbow Minerals Ltd., a
diversified mining company, added 1.1 percent.

Turkish Gains

Turkey’s ISE National 100 Index advanced for a sixth day,
the longest rising streak since October, to reverse an earlier
0.8 percent decline. Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS slipped 2.4
percent, while Tupras Turkiye Petrol Rafinerileri A.S. fell 0.9
percent after an EFG Istanbul analyst said the company’s net
income may decline due to narrowing margins.

A gauge of technology stocks jumped 1.1 percent to lead
gains among the 10 industry groups in the MSCI Emerging Markets
Index. All industry groups advanced. The broader index has added
2.4 percent this year, trailing a 3.7 percent increase by the
MSCI World Index. The emerging-markets index trades for 11 times
estimated profit, compared with the MSCI World’s multiple of
13.4, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index added 1.4
percent, rising for the first time in three days. The Hang Seng
China Enterprises Index of Chinese companies advanced 2.1
percent to the highest level since August 2011.

Volumes Rise

Equity trading volumes were higher than average in Korea
and India, with about 34 percent more shares of Kospi companies
changing hands versus the 30-day average, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg. Volumes were about 66 percent higher on
the Sensex. The rupee posted its best week since October.

Anta Sports Products Ltd. gained 3.4 percent in Hong Kong
to the highest level since March 16 after announcing a
partnership with the Chinese Olympic Committee. Taiwan
Semiconductor, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, climbed
2.2 percent. The company said first-quarter revenue will be
NT$127 billion ($4.4 billion) to NT$129 billion, higher than
estimates for NT$124 billion.

Fuel Prices

Bharat Petroleum surged 9.8 percent, making it the best
performer on the MSCI Emerging Markets index. Indian Oil rallied
11 percent to the highest price since May 2011.

India’s move to raise fuel prices steps up efforts to curb
fuel subsidies and narrow the widest budget deficit among the
largest emerging nations. Refiners including Indian Oil are
planning monthly increases in prices of the diesel, two people
with direct knowledge of the matter said yesterday.

Wipro Ltd., the technology-services company controlled by
billionaire Azim Premji, tumbled 7.7 percent in Mumbai, the
worst performer on the MSCI Emerging Markets gauge, after
reporting a decline in staff-utilization rates.

The extra yield investors demand to own emerging-market
debt over U.S. Treasuries rose three basis points, or 0.03
percentage point, to 264, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s
EMBI Global Index.